Trade-Ins make me angry.

I'll admit it. I don't have a lot of car buying/dealing experience. I've bought only two vehicles in my life. Only one was from a dealer. Well, my 05 AC is just too small in the cab for me, so I'm thinking of getting a double cab longbed.

I found an 06 TRD Sport 4x4 with the tow package with 66K miles for $19900. When inquiring about price, they said they could do something in the $18000 range (I'm not sure about that price, yet, anyways...thoughts on that?).

They wouldn't budge on a "rough" estimate of $10k-13K for mine which is between 4K-7K below NADA on my truck. Crazy. I heard you always do worse on a trade in, but never realized just how bad. I have mine for sale privately now, but I can't go without a vehicle for very long if mine sells AFTER the one I'm looking at sells for, so the trade-in is more convenient, but I REFUSE to take a hit like that.

Sorry for the vent...anyone want to buy my truck (see the classifieds)?

 

Yep, that's an option I was considering as well.

 

Look at Kelley Blue Book online (www.kbb.com I think). You can get a decent estimate of your trade-in value with that. Then check the retail value of the truck you want. Armed with that info, decide if you can take the lower price that you'll get with trade-in and go make the deal you want with the dealer. If they don't like your deal, leave. Keep it that simple

Another option, sell your truck yourself and get more money for it. You'll take less of a hit, but it will take time to sell your truck. Up to you which is more important, money or time.

Good luck!

Kenobe

 

Shop around and get the financing approved on the side to get the best deal. Llet them know you are PRE-approved and ready to buy, even have the loan officer call the salesman and get the VIN of the new truck to finallize the paperwork to get him really excited. Then if they don't want to do "X" price its over and I guess they just don't want your business and you'll be going to dealer "XYZ" now.

 

Sell your truck outright.The dealer will try to rape you on a trade.When you do go to a dealer,do your homework first on the vehicle you want,you are in control at the dealer and make them realize you are.If they won't come to your terms just walk,you have alot of options.Most salesmen hate informed buyers and you will know quickly if you will get YOUR deal with them.

 

This is typically how it works. They either squeeze you on the new vehicle price or the trade in vehicle if you have one. I almost always sell my used car outright for this reason. In fact, it's my understanding the used car market is more profitable then the new car market. Although, this was before the economy decided to go to hell in a hand basket. Last time I was at a dealer the sales person told me they also had to sell their used vehicle outright due to the low ball hit they would have also taken and they were employeed there! Go figure, right?!? You may consider looking at new given the deals out there to move inventory and if possible qualify for 0% finance. Why spend your money when you can use theirs with no penalities?

 

If a dealer won't give you KBB for your trade don't even consider it. They can give you KBB and still make $3-4000 when they sell it.

Once you find a dealer willing to give you fair trade value, you have to compare that to what you're able to sell it for to see if the loss in tax credit is worth it. In your current situation, let's say you get 15 for your trade and buy the DC for 18. You only pay taxes on $3000 (about $300).

If you sell the vehicle outright, you pay taxes on the entire $18,000 when you buy the DC, so about $1800. That's a $1500 difference in taxes. So if you can't sell your truck for at least $1500 more than the trade offer then you might as well just trade it.

Of course the ideal situation is you're able to do an in-and-out with your buyer at the dealership, which is where you can sell it and get the tax credit.

 

It all depends on a variety of things......

I traded-in my 2004 Dodge Ram to buy my new tacoma.

They gave me $19,000 for the Ram which was above trade-in value and very close to private sale value (according to KBB). I was totally amazed they gave me that much!!!

I tried to sell the truck private sale for like 3 months prior - and NOBODY was biting. I actually dropped the price 3 times in the 3 months. The last I had it listed for was $19,000 (imagine that?). The Toyota dealer gave me the $19,000 if I signed the papers on the Tacoma.

I couldn't pass that up!!

Not 4 days later, they'd already sold the Dodge.

 

Yeah, I would like to sell my truck and be able to pick another up with minimal payments (why I'm not shopping for new). We'll see, I suppose.

 

I was tempted today to trade my Tacoma in on a SMOKIN hot 2009 Tundra Double Cab that was loaded. It was the really dark blue with the nice tan leather interior. It also had 18" Pro Comp tires (new) and Mickey Thompson wheels!! But the f&#^$rs only wanted to give me $17,000 for my truck!! No way, considering people were looking at it while I was there.

 

Don't forget about the tax savings when you trade-in a vehicle vs paying the full amount. Sometimes it may work out in your favor if private sale price is within a couple of grand.

 

I just bought a 2009 SuperWhite DoubleCab shortbed last Wednesday. Put a for sale sign on my 1997 Tacoma regular cab and sold it yesterday for 300 dollars over the KBB value of the private sale price. I was very happy. Sell it your self you will be much happier!

 

Thanks, guys. We'll see how long it takes for mine to sell. I really want a double cab lb.

 

Trade-in offers have always sucked for me. I looked at trading my '03 Lexus IS300 when I bought my Tacoma. The dealership offered me $10k... I got $14k less than a week later from a private party.

My wife just got a new (used) car two weeks ago. The dealership offered us $4,500 for a trade on her '02 Passat. Carmax offered $4k cash. We sold it to a private party the NEXT DAY for $7k.

If you have the means to buy the car now and sell yours quickly, you should try that. For us, it meant borrowing some cash on the home equity line to bridge the gap each time. At 2.85% APR, we ended up spending less than $10 in interest.

 

A lot of folks now don't have the dough to dish out for new so priced right I am sure somebody will scoop up your truck & the DC LB will be yours!

 

Sales tax on cars is 10% there?!?!?!? I bet it's not. Sales tax around here is 9% , but on cars it's just 3.5%

Like I said, around here the sales tax is 3.5% on cars. For every $1k in trade-in value, you save 35 in tax savings. Just about the only way trading-in makes sense over selling privately is when the prices are almost exactly the same.

If the trade-in offer is $13k on your old truck, you need to sell it private-party for at least $13,455 to break-even w/ the tax effects. It's still almost certainly a better deal to sell privately.

 

Dealerships are trying to make money.
They will do it on markup of new cars or buying used cars for low and selling them at a higher amount.

I have traded in and sold to the public.
The trade in is good because it makes it easier by not dealing with people and showing the car getting paied ect.

If it is not worth it sell it to a private person and make more money with more work.

Don't get mad just understand the reason they are offering you a low price.

 

Read up on anything before you do it. I suggest http://www.carbuyingtips.com/ and edmunds.com.

The dealer is going to really lowball you with your trade in, there are all kinds of things you should do when negotiating with the dealer.. such as not telling them you plan on trading that in, etc.. and DO NOT negotiate by monthly payment... etc.

Just educate yourself and be ready so you don't get raped. Have a printed out price from something like www.carsdirect.com...

 

Tax savings??? This varies by state....... Your state may do this but mine does not. Where I live, regardless of the trade, you pay sales tax on full purchase price of car or truck before trade. Our sales tax is same whatever you buy, 6%.

On another note, If the federal, state, and local government were actually serious on providing incentives on purchasing new cars, they would address things like the above plus Documentation fees, Catastrophic claims fees, etc.

Motoretro